1May 2007

EditorEditorEditorEditorEditorBrian Rogers

27 Paige CloseWatlington

King’s LynnNorfolk

PE33 0TQTel:- 01553 813090Fax:-0870 7051127

e-mail:- editor@nscc.co.uk

TTTTTrade Advertisingrade Advertisingrade Advertisingrade Advertisingrade AdvertisingAdrian Leggett

RosevilleWestwood Lane

NormandyGuildford

SurreyGU3 2JG

Tel:- 07773 967333between 09:00 - 18:00

01483 810102 eveningse-mail:- sales@nscc.co.uk

ContentsContentsContentsContentsContentsEvents.........................................2Competition Time.....................2Ian Thompson...........................4Diary Dates................................5Messages From Margate............7Fly On The Wall........................9Ninco News..............................13Kits ‘N’ Bobs............................15Racer News..............................19IHSR.......................................21Larkfield Raceway...................27Ebay Watch..............................29Bits & Pieces.............................31H:O World.......................32Letters......................................33Kit Review................................34SCX Reviews....................37&41Home Track............................40Adverts.....................................45

NNNNNOOOOO. 302 M. 302 M. 302 M. 302 M. 302 MAAAAAYYYYY 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007

Baldrick, I have a cunning plan....Baldrick, I have a cunning plan....Baldrick, I have a cunning plan....Baldrick, I have a cunning plan....Baldrick, I have a cunning plan....

In 1997 we had an extension added to our house which provideda new garage, utility room and main bedroom. Mrs Editor gained

her cherished ensuite bathroom and, in return, I received a fullycarpeted and wired loft area in which to build my longed for slot cartrack. Ten years on, Mrs Editor still won’t let me in “her” bathroomand the loftspace is full of junk!

I quickly discovered that lofts are virtually useless for slot carpurposes - too cold in Winter, and way too hot in Summer. Mine isjust about tolerable for approximately three months of the year andthe palaver involved in lugging track construction materials up theremeant that I ended up with a small layout on its floor - hardly whatI originally had in mind!

Recently though, it occurred to me that the garage, which isimmediately under the main bedroom, hadn’t actually beenoccupied by a car since it was built and had become a store roomfor the barbecue trolley, garden furniture, fishing gear and otherassorted household items. It was then I recalled a recent Journalarticle about the building of a garage track...........

“Dearheart, as we don’t use the garage for its primary purpose,wouldn’t it be a good idea to block the door off, get some woodenracking installed to tidy up the junk and make a proper storageroom? It would also cut out the draughts, make the bedroom a lotwarmer and help save the planet by reducing our carbon footprint.”That last bit was a masterstroke I thought!

“Nice try,” she replied, “How much room is the slot track goingto occupy and how do you intend to pay for it?” Curses - rumbledagain. However, after some prolonged negotiation, permission wasgranted and construction has finally started - I have some very niceslot items for sale on eBay at the moment if anybody would like tocontribute to the building fund!

Till next month

Brian

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Ian Thompson was my friend, though it has tobe pointed out this didn’t make me anythingspecial as Ian could make friends with mostpeople within about thirty seconds of meetingthem. He was that kind of guy.

Sadly Ian died on Sunday 25th March,having suffered a severe heart attack in the earlyhours. This tragedy is poignant as he wasscheduled to go into hospital for a heart by-passoperation the following Wednesday, having hadhis condition diagnosed some six weekspreviously. As Ian was not much over 50 it’s hardto believe this has happened to someone sorelatively young these days.

I knew Ian, off and on, over a period of 36years. We both went to Annadale GrammarSchool in Belfast, though separated by a year.We played rugby together for our school houseteam for a couple of years. We were bothinvolved in Scouting in County Down. When Ibecame District Commissioner for Scouts inNewtownards District, Ian was one of the ScoutLeaders in what had become his home village,Ballygowan.

My wife and I moved to Ballygowan in1990. I joined the NSCC in 1993 and, abouttwo minutes after my first Newsletter showingme as a new member arrived, my phone rangand it was Ian wanting to talk to me aboutScalextric. He had been a member since 1989(according to Bob Bott the first person from NIto join the NSCC) and was delighted to findsomeone else living so close that shared hishobby.

As fortune would have it, I was working full-time for Scouting at this time; with anotherScout professional, Colin Turtle, I had beenrunning an annual Scalextric competition for NIScouts for a couple of years and when Ian heardabout this he volunteered to help us.

It was during lunch break at one of theScout events that Ian, Colin and I discussed thepossibility of trying to recruit other interestedparties in an attempt to get a club up andrunning. This resulted in the formation ofNISCAR (Northern Ireland Slotcar CollectorsAnd Racers) in 1995. Guess who came up withthe title? Yes that’s right, Ian.

He became NISCAR’s first Chairman, andremained our only one until his untimelydemise. His laid back, level headed nature,affable demeanour, and almost encyclopaedicknowledge on all things slot related, made himan ideal person for the job.

Just two years ago he took his passion for slotcars even further. Having retired from the PoliceService of Northern Ireland, and formerly theRoyal Ulster Constabulary, he realised a longstanding ambition by forming a businesspartnership with fellow NSCC and NISCARmember, Gavin Walsh, and opening NorthernIreland’s first commercial slot car raceway andretail outlet. He was really in his element andwas delighted to spend time with all and sundrywho ventured into the premises, anyone showingthe least interest in Scalextric was automaticallya target for recruitment into NISCAR.

Ian was first and foremost a family man. Heleaves behind his wife Margaret and children,Karen, Laura, Philip, Stephen and also grand-children. We offer our deepest sympathy to themall.

Ian Thompson was my friend and I washonoured to call him so. I know we will all misshim terribly.

Sinclair TrotterNISCAR

Club Secretary

OBITUOBITUOBITUOBITUOBITUARYARYARYARYARYIan Thompson 29 29 29 29 29ththththth September 1956 – 25 September 1956 – 25 September 1956 – 25 September 1956 – 25 September 1956 – 25ththththth March 2007 March 2007 March 2007 March 2007 March 2007

3May 2007

A fairly quiet month again from Hornbywithout too much to get excited about.

C2820DC2820DC2820DC2820DC2820DW Mini Cooper YW Mini Cooper YW Mini Cooper YW Mini Cooper YW Mini Cooper YellowellowellowellowellowC2821DC2821DC2821DC2821DC2821DW Mini Cooper RW Mini Cooper RW Mini Cooper RW Mini Cooper RW Mini Cooper RedededededC2824W Mini Cooper RC2824W Mini Cooper RC2824W Mini Cooper RC2824W Mini Cooper RC2824W Mini Cooper Rededededed

To begin we have three set only cars, all ofwhich are the new Mini with the one piece body.The digital cars are from set C1197 DigitalDriver. This is the beginners’ Sport Digital setcreating a simple oval with one straight lanechange track. The red car has a black and whitechequered roof and the yellow car has a fetchingblack and white set of zebra stripes.

C2824 is from set C1194 Inner City Speedand has a black and white spider’s web design onthe roof. The set is a small figure of eight withthe right angled crossing in the centre. Thisshould really test how robust these new Minisare! The other car in the set is C2805, the blueMini described last month, as it is also availableas a solo release.

C2785 Jaguar XKRS AutoconC2785 Jaguar XKRS AutoconC2785 Jaguar XKRS AutoconC2785 Jaguar XKRS AutoconC2785 Jaguar XKRS AutoconMotorsports No12Motorsports No12Motorsports No12Motorsports No12Motorsports No12

The latest release of the very quick JaguarXKRS is a dazzling orange and black livery. Notexactly pretty, especially with the flames downthe side, it is an accurate representation of thereal car. The team must love the colour schemeas they are racing an MG Lola in the samecolours this year.See www.autoconmotorsports.com for moreinformation.

C2786 PC2786 PC2786 PC2786 PC2786 Porsche 911 Gorsche 911 Gorsche 911 Gorsche 911 Gorsche 911 GT3R JetT3R JetT3R JetT3R JetT3R JetAlliance No99Alliance No99Alliance No99Alliance No99Alliance No99

The latest Porsche release is a much moreattractive livery of blue and white. However,with 26 different releases (not including digital)to choose from, it is perhaps time Hornbyproduced a new version. The current Porsche997 is competing on the track in both GT2 andGT3 forms and in club racing too. ➳

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C2715D Honda F1 No12C2715D Honda F1 No12C2715D Honda F1 No12C2715D Honda F1 No12C2715D Honda F1 No12Until a version of the digital plug is producedsuitable for single seat racing cars, Hornby willstill produce digital ready versions of the F1cars. C2715D is the digital version of Button’s2006 Honda which was released in Decemberlast year.

Hornby are working on the livery for the2007 car covered with a satellite image of theworld rather than the usual sponsor’s logos. It isgiving them an interesting challenge as Tampoprinting cannot do graded colour. I am assuredthat nothing is impossible and that a solutionwill be found that is up to the now expectedstandard. However, on current form perhaps thereal car will be scrapped before then.

VVVVVariationariationariationariationariationA variation of the first Maserati MC12 has beenbrought to my attention. This is car C2630 (andA and D) the #33 blue car with the big whitetrident on the roof. The variation regards therear wing which originally was the full width ofthe car. Versions of all three variants arerumoured fitted with a narrower rear wing butstill black with white Maserati script. Perhapssomeone can confirm and even sell me one (ofeach). The narrow wing can be seen on theother MC12 releases C2728 and C2784 in red.

Coming SoonComing SoonComing SoonComing SoonComing SoonNews from Hornby of the next batch of releasesincludes C2762, the Dutch WTCC Seat Leonof Tom Coronel, C2782, the stunning yellowFerrari P4 with blue wheels and C2796, aChevrolet Camaro in the maroon and whitecolours of Tony Toulis. All three of thesereleases look great on the press release andshould be eagerly anticipated. ■

5May 2007

With a heavy release schedule plannedbetween now and June, Fly has beenvery busy in keeping up with it.

There are no less than fifteen, yes 15, newmodels to report on this month, including thevery exclusive AG - argentum plata (silver) -Viper. Also, the first of the racing films collectionis now available, plus the return of the annualcatalogue and the infamous #69!

2007 Catalogue andAnnouncements

Starting off with the brand new Fly cataloguewhich is back after a one year absence. Asbefore, it will be available as a normal cataloguepublication, or as part of a limited edition boxedset combined with a special edition car. At thetime of writing only the limited boxed set isavailable. This year the special edition car is anAudi Quattro A2 (99016), which is decoratedin blue and white and has “...un ano para dejarhuella 2007” tampoed onto it. When you do adirect translation of this into English on theinternet it comes back with an unprintablephrase, which I’m sure is not the intendedmessage. Anybody who wishes to enjoy a quietlaugh to themselves can try logging onto http://babelfish.altavista.com/ and see what I mean.The phrase is actually referring to another yearon the track, or something similar. The modelis displayed in a presentation cardboard box inwhich the catalogue fits into a recess on top.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a copy of thecatalogue at the time of writing so I am unableto preview it in any detail. Having said that, itdoes reveal two previously unannounced new

models; Ferrari F40 and Zakspeed Mustang. Arelease date for these is not known, but 2007 isanticipated. Watch this space in a future issue fora more detailed catalogue review. Further to this,a second classic F1 car is in the pipeline butdetails of this are still under wraps.

RRRRRecent Recent Recent Recent Recent ReleaseseleaseseleaseseleaseseleasesMarcos 600LM “Eurotech” #5 (88241).Zolder 24hrs 2006, driven to 2nd place by MarcGoossens, Danny van Dongen and Cor Euser.An attractive livery in yellow and black withgold BBS wheels.Ferrari 250 GTO (Blue/Yellow) #112(88250). Targa Florio 1964, driven to 9th placeby an all Swedish driver line-up of Ulf Norinderand “Pico” Troberg. The car is decorated in theSwedish national colours, in blue with a yellowstripe running full length along the centre.Alfa Romeo Giulia GTAm (Red) #105(88252). Zandvoort 1970, driven to victory byToine Hezemans in the European Touring CarChampionship 1970. Another attractive liveryin red with multi-coloured cartoon style graphicsdown both sides. Anybody who already has thismodel may have noticed the race circuit printedon the plinth as “Zandvort”.Porsche Carrera 6 ‘Martini’ #86 (88255).1000km Nurburgring 1968, driven by AntonFischhaber and Helmut Leuze. Unfortunatelythe car failed to finish the race due to engineproblems. A collectable “Martini” livery inwhite with bold golden yellow stripes runningalong the car’s length. The backing card is whiteand has a picture of the car and a map of the“Nordschleife” printed on it. ➳

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BMW M3 E30 “Art Car” (99022).The fourth “Art Car” to be produced by Fly anddisplayed in a presentation cardboard box. Thisparticular car was designed by Keith Done andis the most colourful, wackiest colour scheme ofthe series to date. In fact anybody who is proneto headaches should avoid this one. Think of acolour in the spectrum and it will probably bethere.BMW M1 (Yellow) #81 (99041).In memoriam to Clay Regazzoni who died in acar crash in Italy on December 15th 2006. Thislimited edition is decorated in yellow with blackwheels and presented in a crystal case with awhite backing card. The card incorporates apicture of Clay’s racing helmet, which has beenfaithfully reproduced on the driver figure. Themodel is depicting the car he drove to 9th

position at the Norisring, competing in theDRM series in 1979.BMW 320i E46 drift car (88254).This is the second car in the “drift” series,following in the footsteps of the previouslyreleased Alfa 156 (A753). Like the Alfa, the

BMW is decorated in orange and black andpresented in a crystal case. The interior is alsoorange which includes the roll cage. The modeldepicted is an actual reproduction from a driftcar event which includes the entrant’s numberdetails printed on the side windows. One uniquefeature of this model is that it has no rear wingfitted. Although this is a standard release modelfitted with a magnet, it does include a racingmotor.

Racing Films CollectionRacing Films CollectionRacing Films CollectionRacing Films CollectionRacing Films CollectionPorsche 911S “Toad Hall” #23T (99020).Targa Florio 1972, driven to 10th place by JürgenBarth and Michael Keyser after completing 9laps. Decorated in pale yellow, with two reel-to-reel cameras attached, one on the rear enginecover, the other to the bonnet.

The first of the racing films collection is nowavailable. This is a series of cars that include aDVD of a film/documentary relating to themodel depicted. “The Speed Merchants” is thefilm included with this car and is a documentarycharting the progress of the Ferrari team in the

7May 2007

1972 GT season. The documentary is in fullcolour and narrated by Vic Elford and MarioAndretti with a running time of approximately95 minutes. The excellent footage takes you intothe world of 1970’s GT racing, includinginterviews, race footage, factory visits and thesocial life outside of the sport. One particulargem of note was at a party when a young ladyasked Mario Andretti whether he preferred to becalled “Ma-rio” or Mar-io”. Also included withthe box set is a booklet summarising what’s onthe DVD and a collection card. The booklet isprinted in Spanish as well as English. Thecollection card has five numbered token spacesto be filled. The tokens are found on the cardplinth in the form of a peelable sticker. Onceyou have the collection card filled with all thecorrect tokens, post it to your local Fly Cardealer who in turn will order you the sixth car.The whole package is presented in a cardboardbook style box with the DVD and booklet fittingneatly into two pockets inside the lid.

Return of the #69Ferrari 250 GTO (Maroon) #69 (99027).Yes, the long awaited return of the Gaugemasterspecial editions has arrived. Limited to 500units, the 250 GTO becomes the 13th model tobe decorated in this now iconic livery/numbercombination. It has Gaugemaster’s own trainicon graphics adorning the roof. The model ispresented in the usual crystal case together witha white plinth and has a coloured numberedbacking card.

For reference, the 12 other models in theseries are as follows; Dodge Viper (E4), Marcos600 LM (E21), Joest Porsche (E41), PanozEsperante (E62), Porsche 911 GT1 98 (E72),Lister Storm (E101), Ford Capri RS (E141) andLola T70 (S31). The remaining four cars werepresented in two twin car boxed sets. BMW M3GTR and Saleen S7R (E263) and Ferrari 365GTB/4 and BMW 3.5 CSL (E651). Further tothis, a Ferrari F40 is planned later in the year.

Argentum PlataDodge Viper GTS-R (ES400).The final model in Fly’s 10th anniversarycelebrations is now with us and what a specialedition it is. The body is hand crafted in solidsilver and limited to 350 units. Although not toeverybody’s taste, the finish has a ratherscratched, antiqued look to it. Personally I likethis effect, which is further enhanced by thewavy front grilles on the bonnet. This then givesthe appearance of being sculptured from a solidpiece of silver. The only negative point of notefor me is the red plastic rear wing and mirrors.It has a fully detailed interior, the same as anyother Fly Viper and is fitted with a plastic chassishousing the motor and guide blade etc. Thesilver wheels are also plastic. The car is displayedin a presentation cardboard box with two cardcertificates. One is wax sealed onto the boxplinth showing hand made authenticity and theother indicates the total quantity produced. It isworth mentioning, although not stated on thebox, that the body was manufactured by MadridJewellers “Sierpe and Becerril”. ➳

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Recent Racing ReleasesJust missing last month’s Journal was the first ofthe new racing series presented in a new boxtogether with extra accessories. The body shelland its components are laid out in a foam tray.All that’s required is for the purchaser toassemble. The extra accessories include threedifferent sized contrate gears and an extra motorcradle. These cars are very similar to thepreviously released evo3 racers which include;sprung motor cradle, racing motor, stroniumwheels, lightweight Lexan interior, calibratedaxles, type D racing tyres and the introductionof a new red low friction gliss guide.Porsche 911 SC (Orange) (88249).Fifth in the evo3 rallye series, following in thewheel tracks of the white, yellow, red and“Danone” versions.Porsche 911 GT1 98 “Xbox 360” (88253).Decorated in matt black and luminous green,this is the tenth evo3 GT1 98 to be produced byFly.Sisu Truck “Xbox 360” (08049).A near identical livery to the above Porsche, inmatt black and luminous green. Although this

truck has a new chassis and Lexan interior, itdoes not come with the new packaging andaccessories.

…And FinallyFollowing the “DHL” Porsche GT1 98 reportedin the March issue, another has been producedfor the company. This time it is a Dodge ViperGTS-R (99024), which is for “DHL” to give totheir new clients. The car is decorated in redwith two parallel yellow stripes running downthe centre, and has the “DHL” logo in yellowprinted on the rear wing, bonnet and sidestogether with race #25. It is limited to 1500units and presented in a crystal case with anumbered yellow backing card.

Fly are to make available 80 pre-productionprototype examples of the March 761. They aremade of a combination of white plastic andnylon and will be unpainted and have no motorfitted. These models will be very exclusive and,as you would imagine, cost more than theaverage Fly car, but sure to be a collector’s itemin the future. ■

9May 2007

After the bumper March announcementsfollowing the Toy Fairs, April saw a a dryspell as far as news was concerned.

However, some of the releases forecast havealready landed on the shelves – albeit for a shortperiod of time before being snapped up! Mostnotable among these were the Ford Focus WRCcar which received a cracking review from MattTucker last month; by the way Matt, the upratedImpreza (50440) featuring all round ProShocksuspension is now available to challenge your Focus… Inaddition to the Focus and Impreza, a new rallylivery of the Mitsubishi Lancer (50436) is due forrelease. The specification is similar, with all-round ProShock suspension and four-wheel-drive but the lime-green paint work is certainlyvery different!

TTTTTrophy winnersrophy winnersrophy winnersrophy winnersrophy winnersThe two latest Méganes (50437 and 50438) innew liveries are also making appearances instores and at swapmeets around the globe. Bothare offered in very noticeable decorations andcontinue to be popular with a number of clubsincluding the Mégane Trophy as a series in theircalendars this year. New Tottenham Raceway(N. London) have further rounds of this seriesalmost every month for the rest of this year andMedway Model Racing Group (Kent) have their5-round series planned for the summer. Now inits third year this series offers an array of liveriesfor a varied field of equally matched race cars.For those interested in seeing the full size cars inaction, the Renault Sport Mégane TrophySeries comes to Donington in September – ➳

10

see if you can spot a future Ninco livery! Both Nincocars can also be found in the Trophy Seriesstarter set which includes a 3.68m oval track,banking supports, crash barriers and 55ohmcontrollers.

Racing heritageRacing heritageRacing heritageRacing heritageRacing heritageThis month sees the release of a totally new GTcar from Ninco with two liveries to choose from:show-car and race-car. Named after the world’sfirst double Formula 1 champion, Alberto Ascari(1918-1955), a team of race professionals set upthis relatively new sports car manufacturer andbegan developing their first limited edition supercar. Within three years, the Ascari Écosse waslaunched, paving the way for their second carthe KZ1. A move to new premises in Banbury(close to Silverstone) during 2000, enabledAscari to design and build this special brand ofroad going super car alongside race-preparedversions for competing in GT championships.The “Show Car” was produced tocommemorate Ascari’s 10th anniversary in 2005.Ninco’s reproduction (50458) of this little beauty

houses an NC-5 motor mounted in the angle-winder position. The high-gloss yellow paint-work is divided by a double black stripe runningnose to tail, just off-centre, along the length ofthe car. The race version is finished in silver withflowing red and black decoration along eachside. This is based on the race livery of theDamax team who competed with a pair ofworks Ascaris during the European GT3Championship. Sponsorship for the team camefrom RF equipment supplier “Gigawave” andthis is the name given to the Ninco release(50444).

24-hour Mosler24-hour Mosler24-hour Mosler24-hour Mosler24-hour MoslerAnother popular GT race car is the MoslerMT900R. The next livery to be released byNinco is the “Daytona” (50442) which carriesnumber 24. The MT900R was originallydesigned to contest 24 Hours of Daytonaalthough it had just as much success competingin the British and Spanish GT championshipsand just like the original car, Ninco offer a carwhich is delivered, ready to race… (although youmay want to remove the magnet!!) ■

11May 2007

Kits ‘N’ BobsKits ‘N’ BobsKits ‘N’ BobsKits ‘N’ BobsKits ‘N’ BobsA round up of recent kit and resin releasesA round up of recent kit and resin releasesA round up of recent kit and resin releasesA round up of recent kit and resin releasesA round up of recent kit and resin releases

By Phil Insull

Starting off this month are pictures of thelong awaited new Peugeot 406s fromSpirit. The coupé is available in yellow

Brands Hatch livery or red JAG livery both fromthe BTCC, while the more striking lookingSilhouette version is available in silver and blueMotul livery.

To be honest, having given these cars anairing at Wolves, the Silhouette version wasreasonably quick but the coupé was awful. Oninvestigation the reason proved to be a severelybent rear axle, in spite of the manufacturer’s

claim that the axles are calibrated. So soft wasthe one in mine I could actually bend it backalmost straight with just my fingers. Discussingthis with a number of club mates I discoveredthat all five other members who had bought one(from various reputable suppliers) had the sameproblem. I was also dismayed to find that thebox claims both cars have an alloy crown wheel,well sorry but no, all the ones I’ve seen haveplastic crowns, clearly Spain does not have thesame laws governing trades descriptions as wedo here in the UK. ➳

Spirit’Spirit’Spirit’Spirit’Spirit’s new Ps new Ps new Ps new Ps new Peugeot 406 Coupé and Silhouette carseugeot 406 Coupé and Silhouette carseugeot 406 Coupé and Silhouette carseugeot 406 Coupé and Silhouette carseugeot 406 Coupé and Silhouette cars,,,,,

MMK’MMK’MMK’MMK’MMK’s GT40 with Slot It Ps GT40 with Slot It Ps GT40 with Slot It Ps GT40 with Slot It Ps GT40 with Slot It Porsche 962 Le Mans 1986 Winnerorsche 962 Le Mans 1986 Winnerorsche 962 Le Mans 1986 Winnerorsche 962 Le Mans 1986 Winnerorsche 962 Le Mans 1986 Winner

12

Hopefully Spirit will improve their qualityissues as they have several new cars planned forthis year with a BMW 2002 in touring and rallyliveries, a Courage LMP, and three versions ofthe mighty Porsche 936. A good many peoplehave long been waiting for a decent version ofthis car and included in the line up is the “BlackMartini” liveried prototype. When the real carwas developed this was due to be the race liverybut the Porsche and Martini marketing peoplerealised that the black colour scheme did notreally stand out on television so changed it towhite.

Last month I mentioned Reinecke Motor-sport’s new release - the 1965 Plymouth Fury.Designed, as ever, to fit onto the CarreraNASCAR Chassis, this looks a beautifullycrafted kit and comes as resin body shell, glass,and flat interior with driver. Undoubtedly decalswill soon be available from our friends atSlotcars4u, but sadly you will have to waitanother month for pictures as mine only arrivedon the day of writing and not even I can buildthem that fast! Two cars I have completed fromlast month include the OCAR / World ClassicsMercedes 300 SLR and Pegaso Z102 and I havephotographed them with the completed SlotIberia Ferrari 860 I mentioned a couple ofmonths back. The next World Classics release isexpected to be a 1959 TR3A as raced at LeMans and should be out by the time you readthis. World Classics are, of course, the UKimporters for French manufacturers MMK and

have stocks of the new limited edition GT 40LM. They will soon have the limited edition AlfaRomeo SVZ and Matra 620 LM. My friends atPendle Slot Racing are now stocking a ready torun racing convertible version of PRS’s exquisitelittle Fiat Abarth, which is just fantastic looking.

Last month I also told you I was buildingthree new kits from Proto Slot, the Spyker C8,the Alpine A220, and the Porsche 917/30; wellthey are now complete and shown in thepromised photograph. I also mentioned AABodies’ new Maserati 300S and Lago TalbotT26. I’ve also finished them using PenelopePitlane chassis and wheels and have picturedthem here alongside the AA Bodies’ CooperBobtail.

WWWWWorld Classics’ Porld Classics’ Porld Classics’ Porld Classics’ Porld Classics’ Pegaso and Meregaso and Meregaso and Meregaso and Meregaso and Mercedes with Slotcedes with Slotcedes with Slotcedes with Slotcedes with Slot

Iberia’Iberia’Iberia’Iberia’Iberia’s Fs Fs Fs Fs Ferrerrerrerrerrari 860ari 860ari 860ari 860ari 860

PPPPProto Slot Spyker C8, Alpine A220, androto Slot Spyker C8, Alpine A220, androto Slot Spyker C8, Alpine A220, androto Slot Spyker C8, Alpine A220, androto Slot Spyker C8, Alpine A220, and

PPPPPorsche 917/30orsche 917/30orsche 917/30orsche 917/30orsche 917/30

AA Bodies MaserAA Bodies MaserAA Bodies MaserAA Bodies MaserAA Bodies Maserati 300S, Lago Tati 300S, Lago Tati 300S, Lago Tati 300S, Lago Tati 300S, Lago Talbot T26albot T26albot T26albot T26albot T26

and Cooper bobtailand Cooper bobtailand Cooper bobtailand Cooper bobtailand Cooper bobtail

13May 2007

Biggest news from the UK this month is anew release from Tetre Rouge Racing Cars withtheir 1938 Pau Grand Prix winning Delahaye145 with a 1939 D type Auto Union set to followvery soon after. Something of a surprise is thenews that TRRC plan to do some more modernera cars with the 1985 Spa 24 hour ETCCwinning BMW 635 Csi and the 1985 Volvo 240Turbo that finished third in the same event.TRRC are also planning a series of BMW “Art”cars starting with a 635 Csi.

The last bit of news on the resin frontconcerns Slot Classic of Spain, who won theprestigious MiniAuto resin slot car of the yearaward for 2006 for their wonderful LanciaAurelia B20.

On to ready to run slot cars and I can bringyou pictures of last month’s new releases fromRevell, the Simca 1000 Rallye, Porsche904GTS, and Chaparral 2C and this month’sKing Cobra.

Further news is that Revell are planning toventure into “Darkside” NASCAR with plansfor both a 1963 and 1965 Ford Galaxie later thisyear. Slot.It’s McLaren F1 GTR has been a bitslow in arriving in the U.K. but the limitededition 1986 Le Mans winning RothmansPorsche 962 as driven by Stuck, Bell andHolbert is now available. As with earlier releases

from Slot.It if you “accidentally” put sticky tapeover the “racing” transfers they peel off to revealthe proper Rothmans livery below.

While getting information and stock out ofCarrera seems to be a problem these days, theenterprising chaps at Pendle Slot Racing haveobtained limited stock of the 1/32nd versions ofthe 1932 Hot Rods and I have managed to gethold of them to bring you a picture of all threeversions. Let’s hope that Carrera sort outsupplies to the U.K. soon as they have someinteresting cars lined up for 2007, although I wasnot happy to find that all three rear numberplates fell off the cars as soon as I ran them. Iwas even less pleased with the yellow one, whichfailed to run until I soldered the motor wires on,not what I expect from a new unopened slot car.

Finally I must mention that WolverhamptonSlot Car Club’s “Half Tonner” Grand Prix for1.5 Litre GP cars from 1961-65 on Sunday 25th

November 2007 is now kindly being sponsoredby Wolverhampton based Penelope Pitlane. Anadditional class has been added for cars usingunmodified SM1 Penelope Pitlane chassis, witha further prize to the highest placed car usingany Penelope Pitlane Chassis, my thanks onbehalf of WSCC to Steve and Rob for theirkind support. For further details on entry pleasee-mail me on jt004b2112@blueyonder.co.uk. ■

RevRevRevRevRevell’ell’ell’ell’ell’s King Cobrs King Cobrs King Cobrs King Cobrs King Cobra, Pa, Pa, Pa, Pa, Porsche 904, Chaparrorsche 904, Chaparrorsche 904, Chaparrorsche 904, Chaparrorsche 904, Chaparral 2Cal 2Cal 2Cal 2Cal 2C

and Simca 1000and Simca 1000and Simca 1000and Simca 1000and Simca 1000

CarrCarrCarrCarrCarrererererera’a’a’a’a’s 1/32s 1/32s 1/32s 1/32s 1/32ndndndndnd 1932 Hot Rods 1932 Hot Rods 1932 Hot Rods 1932 Hot Rods 1932 Hot Rods

14

Now available is the exquisite Ferrari312P Coupé. Both models released todate are absolutely gorgeous and would

be the highlight of anybody’s collection. Havingsaid that, they do perform exceptionally well onthe track too. They are fitted with the latestorange Slot.it 23,000 rpm motor, as will all theRacer range from now on. Window etching hasbeen introduced on this model and is anotherstep up in technology. Also, they are fitted withplastic front winglets, which is another first. Bothcars have a fully detailed interior and a newhead for the driver who is wearing a face scarf.The detail even extends to a photo-etched platein the wheel arch behind the front wheels.

RCR31 – Ferrari 312PRCR31 – Ferrari 312PRCR31 – Ferrari 312PRCR31 – Ferrari 312PRCR31 – Ferrari 312P“NART” #22“NART” #22“NART” #22“NART” #22“NART” #22

World championship 2nd round - Sebring 12hrs1970. Driven by Mike Parkes and ChuckParsons to 6th place after completing 240 laps.

Decorated in red with a blue and white striperunning down the centre of the bonnet andsilver rear wheel arches. Both headlights havecovers over them and a nice touch here is thedecal has been well pressed into the headlightsurround. Other unique features to this car arethe bubble roof and the inclusion of a centrerear winglet flanked by two smaller ones. Thefront winglets have a square edge to them andfit flush to the line of the car. In keeping with itsreal-life counterpart the driver’s side numeralhas been overlaid by a day-glo number, whereasthe so called passenger side is a plain whitenumber roundel.

RCR32 – Ferrari 312PRCR32 – Ferrari 312PRCR32 – Ferrari 312PRCR32 – Ferrari 312PRCR32 – Ferrari 312P“NART” #23“NART” #23“NART” #23“NART” #23“NART” #23

World championship 1st round - Daytona 24hrs1970. Driven by David Piper and TonyAdamowicz to 5th place after completing 632laps. Again decorated in red, but with the blue➳

15May 2007

and white stripe running along the centre of thebonnet and along the centre of the roof. This ispossible as it does not have the bubble roof.Other variations to this model are no centre rearwinglet, just the smaller outer ones and rounderfront winglets which protrude to the side more.Also, as it raced at Daytona where the track runsanticlockwise, the day-glo number is on the socalled passenger side.

DevelopmentsAlready in production is the “Apple Computers”Porsche 935 K3 (RCR33), which is anticipatedto be available by the end of May. Followedshortly by the “Mecom” Ferrari 250 LM(RCR34).

The next brand new model to come fromRacer will be the Ferrari 350P Can-Am car,with the first livery being in the orange“Gunston” colours. Although this car is nearingfinal development, Racer are currently working

on the finer details. The Chaparral 2E has beendelayed due to extra work on getting it right.This was anticipated as Racer are spendingmore time and being very careful to produce asnear an exact model replica as possible. As I amon the subject of brand new models, I would justlike to clarify that Racer are planning to producean Alfa 33/3, as stated in my previous report.This will be the version that raced during the1969/70 season and will be different to theSlot.it version also due this year. This responseis after reading a thread on the Slotforumrecently.

The new plastic chassis for the Ferrari 330P4/412P is now available should anybody wantto upgrade their cars from the not-so-flat resinversion. The part number is “SP/P4 B”.Production of the resin chassis has beensuspended and all P4s produced in the lastcouple of months have had the new chassisfitted. ■

16

Following some email conversation withour esteemed editor this past Christmas,I offered to write an article about our club

here in the Mid-Atlantic region of the USA. I’dlike to give a brief introduction to the club,explain a few of our practices and philosophies,and finish with a tour of our tracks. I would liketo credit Todd Brace, the club’s “foundingfather”, for quite a bit of the following history.

Todd was thumbing through the August1995 edition of the Vintage Slot RacingNewsletter after a two-decade absence from slotcars, and found a classified ad asking others inthe area who would like to get together to race1/32 slot cars to contact Bruce Strachan. Toddcalled Bruce, and arranged a visit. In that sameissue of VSRN, the remarkable Monogramlayout of Bob Ziegler of Harrisburg, Pa wasfeatured. Todd contacted Bob, of course.

About the same time, at a local toy car show,I met Todd, and Joe Weinstein, an accomplishedcommercial slot racer who happened to bethere. In the space of about a month, Bruce,Todd, Joe, Bob and myself were loosely meeting,in “groups” of three or four, to race slot cars.Through word of mouth, advertisements in thepaper, and more networking at toy shows, AlanSchwartz, Rich Miller, Steve and Pierce Yorkand others followed. The result was a solidgroup of racers who met regularly in the mid/late 1990s racing on our home tracks. At onerace meet at Todd’s house there were 22 racerspresent. It was Bruce who noted that becausefolks were coming from Pennsylvania, Virginia,New York, New Jersey, and of course Marylandwe were truly an Interstate Home Slot Racersgroup.

Many other new racers were found throughthe “net”, either connecting through web sitessuch as Old Weird Herald, Slot Car Illustrated,and Home Racing World, or by stumbling

across one another through eBay transactions.We now regularly have between 16 and 22racers at our meets. Due to the widespread areaof our group, it’s not unusual for many of us todrive two to three hours each way to a race. Thearea we have participation from is about 150miles north to south, and about the same east towest. Most of us can only dream of the types ofclub activities that seem to be prevalent in theUK, where race meets can be held every weekon a weeknight. We’re limited to weekend racingdue to the distances involved.

Our basic club philosophy is to have close,competitive racing, but keep it friendly and fun.We strive very hard not to take ourselves tooseriously here. At the core, we’re a group of goodfriends, who enjoy taunting and racing eachother in good fun. No attitudes allowed. Afterall, we’re grown men playing with toy cars!There are no dues, the only “fee” imposed is acontribution to the pizza fund at each race. Hey,a racer’s got to eat, right? We break for a pizzalunch between classes, and it would hardly befair to ask the host to provide lunch for 20hungry guys!

Generally, we race two classes of cars, withtwo sub groups, per season. One of the subgroups will be a mostly box stock one, for thosewho don’t have the time or desire to build andmodify cars. The other group will be more open,allowing many more modifications or scratchbuilt cars. The classes this year are LMP from1980 on and vintage sports cars up to 1970. Thebox stock LMP group is Slot.It only, and isallowed to carry the stock magnet. The openLMP group and both Vintage sports car groupsare run without magnets.

The IHSR race series runs from early Falluntil late Spring, making the rounds of thosemembers with tracks who are willing to host arace. Our tracks are all three or four lanes with

Interstate Home SlotInterstate Home SlotInterstate Home SlotInterstate Home SlotInterstate Home SlotRacersRacersRacersRacersRacers

By Jim Butt

17May 2007

computer controlled race management systems.We are truly fortunate to have such a greatvariety of tracks to race on, and it makes theracing that much more fun. What setup worksperfectly on one track may be utter rubbish atthe next venue, so the challenge is to set up a carthat will perform well for the conditions.

And with that lead-in, let’s take a brief tourof the tracks of the IHSR.

First, we’ll look at Bruce Strachan’s beautifulNinco course. Bruce’s track was featured in oneof the early issues of Model Car Racingmagazine. It’s four lanes and about 55 feet in laplength. He has done a great job of incorporatingthe Ninco track into the scenery, for a flushsurface and an interesting drive through theelevation changes and a combination of severaltight corners and a big open right hand sweeperthat really tests your ability to hang your car onthe ragged edge and hold on. It’s to the right ofthis picture, just after the underpass.

Here’s the view of the south end of the track,showing the beginning of the long straight thatruns right up the middle of the layout.

Next up is the incredible Monogram trackof Bob Ziegler. Bob’s track is a real speedmonster, with a 24-foot long back straight, andthen a serious technical section through theinfield. Monogram was one of the best vintagetracks, being beautifully smooth and, with highdownforce in the rails for the magnet cars, thespeeds attainable are downright scary.

Sadly, Bob’s track is currently taken apart, ashe has recently moved house and has not yet hadthe time to rebuild. I’m sure the next version willbe even better!

Staying in the north of our area, we nextvisit the beautiful three lane wood track of NilsHagen-Frederiksen. Nils, with the help of hisson Chris, have created one of the most photo-genic tracks around, “The Frederikring”, andit’s a real pleasure to race on.

The track undulates up and down throughthe countryside with varying radius turns, twosqueeze sections, and several places of differenttextured paint, just to keep you on your toes. Nils

18

has used “magnetic paint” on his track withgreat success. The paint contains iron filings,which both add a slight texture to the surface,and give the benefit of light magnetic downforcefor magnet cars, which don’t break loose whenthe car drifts off line and the magnet gets awayfrom the rails. Driving this track is always apleasure. The landscaping and attention todetail make Nils’ track one of the club favouritesfor photo shoots of our cars.

Heading south, our next stop is at thelegendary home of “Ecurie Martini”, otherwiseknown as Alan Schwartz. You may recognizeAlan’s moniker from his many postings on thevarious message boards; he is a scratch builderextraordinaire, and his history of slot racingdates back to owning and racing the originalScalextric tinplate cars in 1958. Alan’s track isanother routed wood track with magnetic braid.The pictures here are just after routing, and thetrack has since had scenery added. It’s fourlanes, about 50 feet in lap length, and is atreacherous combination of several varyingradius turns, an uphill hairpin, then a longdownhill “ess” curve sweeper, which changesradius several times on its way to the bottom.Pay attention, and you can really fly down thathill. Nod off, and you’ll be in the guardrail in aheartbeat.

After the sweeper, you come down the frontstraight, through a series of esses leading into theunderpass, then the long straight ending in thatdastardly uphill hairpin. Brakes really matterhere!

We’ll head east from here, to CharlieChase’s Aberdeen Proving Grounds Raceway.Charlie lives just off the Aberdeen military base,which is the home to many of the US armedforces development groups. There is a large testtrack for tanks, ordinance testing facilities, etc.So, it’s only natural that Charlie’s track carriesthrough the military theme, with helicoptersoverhead and tanks in the infield. The track isa four lane Artin, super smooth, and quiteinteresting to drive.

From the start, you’re into a tight left handturn, up the hill to the overpass, back down toa hairpin, then off down the long back straightwhich leads uphill to a tight right-hander withan ess turn at the exit. Then it’s back downhill,through an ess turn under the bridge, a shortstraight, and up the long front straight. You canreally build up speed down those straights; thisis another track where brakes really matter!

19May 2007

To the south we have the track of KeithAllen, which is another routed wood master-piece. Keith has done a beautiful job with thistrack, the course winds its way through thelandscape, with a couple of squeeze sections,and magnificent scenery. He also used magneticbraid to allow the use of magnets if desired.Keith has a real “home track advantage” when

we race here, it’s a really challenging course. Youmay not be able to tell from the photos, butnowhere on the track is there an actual“straightaway”. Even the sections that lookstraight have a slight curve, kink, or ess shape tothem. It really keeps you focused the entire time.Of course, that beautiful scenery and land-scaping make for beautiful race photos, as thebelow picture shows.

A bit further south is the track of HayesLewis. It’s another routed wood track, threelanes, with magnetic braid. Hayes created a realpretzel of switchbacks, straights, and overpassesthat can make your head spin keeping track ofwhere you’re headed next.

Just as this report is being written this trackhas been relocated to another club member’shome and Hayes has begun construction of adigital track. As I haven’t yet had theopportunity to try digital, I’m looking forwardto giving it a go.

20

Off to the west, a real monster of a track istaking shape. Larry and Brian Priore, the “BlackBox Racing Team”, have taken down their threelane routed wood track and are constructing“Hellanbach Speedway”. Their creation has a26’ long front straight, lots of big sweepingturns, and looks like it’s going to be an amazingplace to race.

Larry and Brian are using magnetic paint,with copper tape. Having run that type surfaceat Nils’ track, I think I can safely say that thespeeds here will be beyond belief. We’re reallylooking forward to “opening day”.

Wrapping up our tour, we’ll come “home”to my place, Flying Cow Raceway.

The Flying Cow is routed wood withmagnetic braid, four lanes and about 87’ laplength. It’s based on a series of tracks I had done

21May 2007

in the past, changing the details slightly witheach rebuild until I got the design that reallysuited me. The track is a combination of longstraights, sweeping turns and two hairpins thattighten in radius at the apex then open back outto the next straight. All the turns are balanced,so that for every left turn there is an equal radiusand almost in length right turn. The lanes areno more than ¼” different in length, and the fastlap times can come from any lane. The righthand hairpin leads into the uphill straight to theoverpass, while the left hander is at the bottomof the short downhill straight. Once you get thefeel for the turns, you can really get throughthem quickly.

Scenery, structures and landscaping havebeen kept to a minimum, so as not to distract theeye of the racers. You may notice in the photosthe track lights surrounded by traffic cones.These lights function with the track power, goinggreen when the power comes on, then yellowand red when the power shuts off. You may also

notice that the bridge side rail supports arealuminium bar. I had been wondering why myoverpass had been sagging, since I thought it waswell supported. My curiosity ended one daywhen I found Bear, our 27-pound housecat,napping contentedly in the centre of the span.No wonder it was drooping!

And so ends our IHSR tour. I hope thatyou’ve enjoyed the trip; we’ve covered about 300miles today, and visited nine of the nicest placesto race slot cars in the Mid-Atlantic area. Ifyou’re ever in the neighbourhood, please let usknow. Visitors are always welcome here atIHSR. For more details I can be contacted atsubdude17349@comcast.net or you can visitour website message boards at:

http://p208.ezboard.com/binterstatehomeslotracingclub

You’ll find much more information there,and many, many more photos. Please stop by tosay hello, and let us know if you enjoyed thetour! ■

22

Larkfield Raceway was foundedapproximately 10 years ago. The firstclub track was a four-lane copper taped

routed track purchased second hand by amember who loaned it to the club until it gotestablished and could stand on its own feet. Ihave been a member myself since 1998 so I havebeen racking my memory to put this together.The club meets on Friday evening in a councilowned hall and the first job is to assemble thetrack which is stored on the ground floor (theroom the club hires is on the first). As with otherclubs it’s usually the same faces who assemblethe track and get it working before others arrive.

In 2000 Larkfield club had enough funds tohave a 6-lane track made for them The track isapprox 93feet long and is made from routedMDF fitted with magnatex stainless steelbraiding which allows facility for magnatraction.

The track was made by Track Masters froma plan that all members approved. It wasdelivered painted in black board paint and was

painted as you see now by the club secretary andhis son. It runs from a PC with slot mastersoftware

When first purchased the track was poweredby Scalextric transformers - one per lane. Thesewere upgraded to Kelvin Light adjustabletransformers to allow different voltages to beselected. All the members supply their ownthrottles and a varied mixture appears on mostevenings.

As with all clubs, funds are sometimes aproblem so we’ve hired the track out forbirthdays and other occasions. We have alsotaken part in charitable events, one of whichhad Johnny Herbert as its patron, and we foundhim to be a great Scalextric racer when heattended the event (happily signing the track forus). Another fund booster has been to lend thetrack to car showrooms for launch days of newmodels - always a big draw as children andparents alike enjoy racing together.

Larkfield RacewayLarkfield RacewayLarkfield RacewayLarkfield RacewayLarkfield RacewayBy Dave Smith

23May 2007

Membership goes up and down and atpresent we have about 16 members, the generalrule is that children have to be accompanied bya parent if under 12.

We race four classes - Ninco Méganes andNinco JGT series one week followed by Slot.itGT and Ninco Porsches (which are owned byclub).

We’ve been round the houses as to how wemodify classes and we’ve found that almost boxstandard (just changing tyres and braids) givesthe club a very good, even race evening. As you

can see by the pictures not even last year’s heatwave beat us as we set the track up in the carpark!

We’re based in Larkfield, Kent just outsideMaidstone, about 5 minutes from the M20.

We are always happy to help new members.The club charges £4 per evening’s racing with£10 membership subscription due every year(free for first evening’s racing).

If you are interested please give our clubsecretary Ken a ring on 01732 846857. ■

24

This month started with me thinkingthings were quietening down a bit, butthen another cheap listing day as well as

some feedback on my price listing descriptionsensured I had plenty to write about this month.The cheap listing day saw listings jump fromaround 4500 to 7500 on the UK site in themiddle of the month and then fall back again bythe end as sellers gear up for selling around thesecheap listing days.

A quick recap on how I report items so,hopefully, you understand why I have reportedthings in a certain way. I try and view eBayfairly thoroughly at least every couple of daysand briefly most days to note newly listed itemswhich I think may be of interest. It is inevitablethough that many items are missed and, just likeany other auction, you never know how pricesare going to end up and if items are describedtotally correctly.

Although I have had a Scalextric set sincethe late 60s (and incidentally still have myoriginal set 80) I am no expert on the 60s stuffas I have never really collected it, whereas I ama little more clued up on the modern stuff.Hence, when I see any 60’s items, unless thereare obvious mistakes to me, I report them aslisted and described and this should be borne inmind when reading my reporting. Why explainthis you may say? Well, I mentioned last monththat a mint and sealed CK2 kit sold for £820 -whilst complete and sealed with items in bags itwas not “shrink wrapped” mint and sealed. Thiswas perhaps why it went so “cheaply” at arounda third of the price that a shrink wrappedexample had recently fetched from a well knowninternational dealer. Again it is ‘buyer beware’so do your homework before bidding and don’tget caught out or, more importantly, carriedaway with your bidding.

A good example of getting carried away thispast month was on a new Scalextric Ford GT

which at £200 you would think was a limitedRange Presentation car or even an NSCCweekend car but in fact was a “Racer” club car.Yes, the car you get for free when you join theRacer Club for £22 (UK membership). Theseller described it as limited to 200, corrected ita day before the listing ended but still the bidscontinued. I bet the seller was rather happy withthat result though I can’t work out how thewinner bid themselves up from £110 to £200.Another example was the new Fly GaugemasterLE Ferrari 250 GTO, E1802, that was availablewith BIN prices from one seller for less than £40and yet someone felt inclined to bid over £60 inan auction listing that was on at the same timeand from the same seller! Maybe the buyer gotseduced by the “LE” tag and the fact only 500were made of the GTO.

Buying ChecklistBuying ChecklistBuying ChecklistBuying ChecklistBuying ChecklistSo, if you want to grab a good eBay deal, beforebidding make sure you do the following checks.Firstly look at the seller’s other listings includingcompleted ones. As well as checking theirfeedback you should also look at the recentlyintroduced detailed seller ratings as these give abetter picture of the way they do business.Finally, check similar items on the main dealersites for another view on the value, thoughsometimes these values can vary as much asthose realised on eBay. Once you are happy thenbid away, always taking into account the P&P.

Most seasoned eBayers know this alreadybut “newbies” may not and that is why I wouldrecommend you always bid a little over a roundamount as most items never go for the standard“round pound” prices you generally see atswapmeets and toy fairs. However, as so manybidders do this now, rather than bidding £20.01say, bid a few pence more and vary your biddingso it does not become too predictable for othersto outbid you by pennies. ➳

25May 2007

Slot.ItSlot.ItSlot.ItSlot.ItSlot.ItGenerally prices remain firm on this range ofcars and are starting to appreciate for earliermodels. With one seller listing several Porschesat the same Friday night time it is interesting tonote the prices realised. Predictably the NewMan reached top spot at £112 with a usedexample fetching £62 on a previous Friday. Nextwas the Blue 956C Kenwood at £65.12 closelyfollowed by the red and white Canon at £55.55.The 962C Repsol and Shell fetched £37 eachand bringing up the rear was the 962C whiteBlaukpunt at £27. Speaking of Slot. It there wasa large lot of £800 worth of accessory tune upparts in one lot this month that went for arelative bargain price of £211.78 on a Saturdaymorning. Mind you that’s a lot of tuningsomeone is going to do there!

This monthThis monthThis monthThis monthThis month’s prices’s prices’s prices’s prices’s pricesPrices as listed and spelt on UK eBay unlessstated, with the time and auction ending day.

VERY RARE SCALEXTRIC METRO 6R4.TERNCO £162 (described as near mint onFriday night)NEW SLOTLINE SL01a ALLOY WHEELSScarce. Discontinued £23 (A pair of 15x8Countach style alloy rims which have legendarystatus according to seller. Some SL03a fetched£7.50 on same Sunday night)Scalextric Gold Plated Shadow F1 Car MintPrize Car1/32 £51 (Gold chromed 1970’s caron Thursday night)Scalextric ORIGINAL James Bond Bandit1960’s Figure £26 (single figure excellentcondition Thursday evening)E5 RED ASTON MARTIN, MARSHALSCAR, VERY RARE £503 (repro flags andstickers. Small brown mark by bulb. Thursdayevening)RARE!! Scalextric PORSCHE - C125 - GREY- exc condition £47.09 (another one from thesame seller as listed in column last monthMonday evening)Scalextric Super 124 Set 200, boxed includingboth cars £1750.66 (excellent condition set withjust the odd bit missing Sunday night)

Scalextric Shop Display Case Old StyleCollectors Item £137 (12 car sloping displaycase Wednesday night)Vintage Scalextric Store Sign in ExcellentCondition AU$ 78.77 (£33) (9.5 x 29 inchescardboard shop sign showing Lotus and Marchon Australian eBay early hours of Thursdaymorning UK time)NSCC 9th Hornby Weekend Ford GTScalextric £400 BIN (Saturday night listing)Scalextric NSCC Eighth Hornby Weekend FordGT Pace Car £400 BIN (same seller as above)NSCC 7th Hornby Weekend Mitsubishi LancerEvo 7 £300 BIN (as above)C2549/1 NSCC Sixth Hornby Weekend FordGT40 Scalextric £400 BIN (as above)NSCC Scalextric Fifth Hornby Weekend TVRSpeed 12 £270 (as above but took longer to sellgoing on the Sunday morning to best offer)NSCC limited edition Renault Megane,Ninco£135 BIN (Friday night)Scalextric NSCC 200th Anniversary JaguarXJ220 £26 (Wednesday night)scalextric catalogues £63.23 (A lot for somecatalogues maybe but it included 2,3,4,5,6 inexcellent condition according to the seller on aWednesday lunchtime)hornby scalectric cars DEALER CAR FORDGT 2007 LIMITED £245 (misspelling did notstop the bidding on this Sunday night auction!)Triang Scalextric Typhoon Racing MotorcycleCombination £28 (yellow model missing wires,motor, screws and screen but listed in diecastcategory on Wednesday night)

Finally a description from one listing that Iparticularly liked (and maybe the marketingteam at Margate did as well) was “FullProfessional Scaletric (Scalextric) Best Brand.”The seller reckoned that scalextric was the bestbrand of scaletrics all around. Mind you no bidswere placed at £40 for the F1 circuit 4 classic setwhich showed 5 cars in the pictures but only 4were listed in the sales pitch.

Thanks to those who have sent in bits for thecolumn again and please contact me if you seeanything worthy of inclusion at:

stevelangford66@googlemail.com ■

26

TT Mitsubishi Montero 4x4TT Mitsubishi Montero 4x4TT Mitsubishi Montero 4x4TT Mitsubishi Montero 4x4TT Mitsubishi Montero 4x4Yes that’s right you read it correctly, the almostmythical and very rare SCX TT car that neverofficially made it into production is back.Spanish company Power Slot (who made therecent Lunar Buggy slot car) have reproduced itusing a mould taken from one of the feworiginal EXIN cars to be liberated from thefactory when sold to Tyco.

Based on the car driven in the 1991 Dakarthey will be available in three liveries as Exinoriginally planned. The first two will be red andwhite and feature sticker type decals (as original)in the Nikon or McGregor livery. The white carwill be limited to 1000 units and the red to 1500.Approximate cost per car will be 80€. Therewill be a third livery (500) available exclusivelyfor Spanish web forum Foroslot’s swapmeet heldin June in Madrid.

No news as yet of any UK dealers bringingthem to the UK, but Cric Crac and AloyinSpain should be getting stock. Expect a highdemand from Spain. Thanks to Marcel Moixfrom Slotadictos for the information and picture.

Gareth Jex

New Southern SwapmeetNew Southern SwapmeetNew Southern SwapmeetNew Southern SwapmeetNew Southern SwapmeetAs some of you may know, after 25 years (withmembership number 10/82), Mike Pack haspacked it in. It’s always sad to lose a member,particularly one of such long standing, but aparticular consequence of Mike’s departure isthat he will not be organising the Liphookswapmeet. This would leave a huge gap in thecalendar so we’re cooking up another one forHampshire.

The schedule’s been very tight but as we goto press, we have identified a date and location:the 1st July at Crestwood College in Eastleigh,just off the M3. That’s sufficient to allow us toplace the notice in May’s Journal but beyondthat, all the arrangements still remain to bemade. So, the event is fixed but look for moredetails and hopefully more attractions in June’sissue.

It is being organised on behalf of theNSCC, which will fund the venue, insurance,etc. and receive all the income from tables andentrance fees; the organisers won’t be profitingpersonally.

It will be an open event so that as manydealers and buyers as possible are encouraged tocome but the Club will participate and memberswill pay a lower admission charge. Next year,who knows? So please come, support the Cluband, most importantly, enjoy yourselves.

Peter Zivanovic

27May 2007

Not so much a full column this month asthe manufacturers ramp up for theirsummer releases, but I do have pictures

of some forthcoming releases.First we have the new Micro Scalextric

Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang, other-wise known as Bumblebee and Barricade fromthe new ‘’Transformers” movie set.

Transformers, starring Megan Fox, JonVoight and Hugo Weaving, opens in the UK onJune 29th, so look for the set being released to tiein with that. Then we have three more releases, two Nascars

and a Honda Civic (US version) from Life-Like.These should be out late May/early June. ■

28

Sir,I am writing in response to Gary Skipp’s‘Formula Slot’ article in the April Journal.

I can’t agree that the single seat slot carscene is in as dire a state as Gary suggests. Singleseaters are my favourite type of racers, both in1/32 and 1/1 worlds.

While it’s true that most manufacturers nowfit out their cars with extra strong magnets, thereis still a certain amount of skill involved in racingand staying on at speeds that can take the lightfrom your eyes.

One of my personal favourites are Ninco F1cars. These things were the bees’ knees whenthey first came out, and I still enjoy racing themtoday. While they do indeed have a magnet it’snot the type that requires a crowbar to get themoff the track and they offer a challenging drive,especially on the likes of Scalextric Sport track.

I’ve included a picture of a bunch ofrepaints I’ve done. These cars really lentthemselves to re-livery, using decals supplied, inthe main, by Pendle Slot. With my very limited

skills I was able to add Jaguar, Prost, BAR,Benetton and a gold B&H Jordan cars to my F1grid.

I, for one, really regret that for whateverreason Ninco have ceased F1 production, andfor recent liveries we have to put up with the -“Is it a bird?, is it a plane?, no it’s a miniatureguided missile on wheels type of car.”

However, as I said before these cars with thehuge magnetic assisted downforce do require acertain type of skill to drive successfully in theirown right.

If you want an exciting round of racing givethe recent Scalextric A1 cars a go. This racingseries must have been a manufacturer’s dream,one mould fits all. I like the concept of real-lifeA1, where all cars are the same make andsuccess is down to driver skill, rather than whichteam can spend the most on hi-tec wizardry.We’ve raced A1s a couple of times recently atour club, and I think most of our membersenjoyed the experience.

Sadly now production of these seems tohave stalled, as Scalextric don’t appear to bebringing out any new liveries this year. How canthey have done this before producing the IrishTeam car?!? I suppose I’ll have to get the paintsout again.

So there you have it, two very different typesof single seat racers, but both are challengingand enjoyable to drive in their own right.

Give them a go, Gary.

I am, yours etc,Sinclair Trotter

29May 2007

Maxi-Models creator Max Wintermakes some great slot cars in bothkit and ready to race versions.

However, until recently, the chassis have tendedto be resin and, while the photo etched interiorslook great, for a racing slot car they do add alittle too much weight. What’s needed then is aproper full blown race chassis, with top qualityrunning gear and a lightweight interior but stillkeeping Maxi’s fantastic looking bodies andexternal detail. Well now you can get them withMaxi’s “fully equipped” MXC008F Flexi-Chassis, and super sports lightweight interioroption McLaren M6B.

In 1968 the all-conquering McLaren Can-Am team introduced the new M6B customer carbased on the previous year’s championshipwinning M6A. Sadly for the competition, theworks drivers had the new improved M8A andso, while the M6B was still a good car, it was notas quick as the works machines. Customersincluded Moises Solana, Richard Brown,Lothar Motschenbacher, Roger McCaig, JerryTitus, Oscar Kovaleski, Jay Hill, Jo Bonnier, andof course Dan Gurney. All of these versionsbeing available in the Maxi-Models SuperSprint range. ➳

Maxi-Models MXMaxi-Models MXMaxi-Models MXMaxi-Models MXMaxi-Models MXC008FC008FC008FC008FC008FFleFleFleFleFlexi-xi-xi-xi-xi-ChassisChassisChassisChassisChassis

By Phil InsullBy Phil InsullBy Phil InsullBy Phil InsullBy Phil Insull

DDDDDan Gurney’an Gurney’an Gurney’an Gurney’an Gurney’s beautiful M6B “McLeagle”s beautiful M6B “McLeagle”s beautiful M6B “McLeagle”s beautiful M6B “McLeagle”s beautiful M6B “McLeagle”

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I went for Gurney’s 1968 McLeagle M6B,this was powered by a Ford Engine rather thanthe more usual Chevrolet unit, although Gurneyswitched to Chevy power in 1969. Gurneystruggled for two years with the McLeagle andfamously commented: “The front of the carnever felt like it was connected to the rear andvice-versa but at least we had fun with theMcLeagle name”.

The Super Sprint body kit came pre-painted, just requiring some detailing work.Included was a lightweight vacuum formedinterior and decal set. I purchased one of Maxi’sfull-length driver figures and an engine detailingkit to add the finishing touches. The MXC008FFlexi-chassis is available as a stand-alone item,but I decided to go for the “fully equipped”version. This comes with a Professor Motor26,000 R.P.M. motor, silicon shielded wires, gearset, grounded steel axles, phosphor bronzebearings, a Sakatsu guide with soft copper racingbraids, MXA 013 alloy wheel set with insertsand a set of “Indy Grip” silicon racing tyres.Painting the driver and interior took far longerthan assembling the chassis to the body, whichwas a doddle. I used bare metal foil for the tailspoiler and water pipe detail, added the decalsand finished it off with a coat of clear lacquer.The result is a car just as stunning to look at asyou would expect from a Maxi-Model kit, buthow does it go with all this proper racing gearunderneath it.

As usual I took the car to Wolverhampton totry it on our three club tracks. In order to judgeperformance I took my Maxi-Models M6A withresin Chassis, and a Fly Lola T70 mounted ona Slot.it HSR Chassis. As expected, the standardchassis M6A was simply too heavy and under-powered to be competitive, although it’s stillgreat fun to slide around. The Flexi ChassisM6B however was a different story being veryclose in performance to the HSR chassis Lola.On the Ninco and SlotFire tracks the superbmagnets on both cars kept them firmly glued tothe road, with the 30,000 rpm Slot.it motor ofthe HSR Lola having just enough extra grunt toout pace the Flexi Chassis by a couple of tenthson both. On the copper tape track howevermagnets have no effect and raw power isn’teverything. The steel Flexi Chassis carries itscentre of gravity slightly lower than an HSRand the motor is beautifully smooth. Around theWolves wood track the M6B was in its element,easily lapping at the mid eight second mark,while the Lola struggled to make it below nineseconds per lap. Some credit here must also goto the highly effective “Indy Grip” tyres, whichprovided lots more grip than the Slot.it tyres. Achange onto NSR tyres for the Lola did helpgain another couple of tenths but it still couldn’tmatch the McLeagle for pace. Max has come upwith a winning formula, particularly on routedtracks. Now we can have the aesthetic beauty ofMaxi-Models along with genuine competitionperformance. ■

The MXC008F Chassis “fully equipped”The MXC008F Chassis “fully equipped”The MXC008F Chassis “fully equipped”The MXC008F Chassis “fully equipped”The MXC008F Chassis “fully equipped”

GrGrGrGrGreat detail and quality on the Super Sprinteat detail and quality on the Super Sprinteat detail and quality on the Super Sprinteat detail and quality on the Super Sprinteat detail and quality on the Super Sprint

body kitbody kitbody kitbody kitbody kit

31May 2007

When Gareth sent me these two cars, Iwas not too sure where to start, afterall, oval racing is not that big in

Europe (Rockingham and Lausitzring apart).Since then I have found out it is an acronym forNational Association for Stock Car Auto Racing.(I know little about UK stock car racing either,but ageing Ford Granadas with all the glassknocked out, dents, hissing leaking radiators andadverts for the local kebab shop are NOT whatthese cars are about).

Those of you in the UK who recall a recent‘Top-Gear’ road trip across the Southern USAmay have got the impression that affection for itis also ‘Red-neck’ territory, well sitting in the sunfor three hours or more may or may not give youa sunburned upper back, but with a little helpfrom Wikipedia.org it would seem that -‘Internationally, NASCAR races are broadcastin over 150 countries. It holds 17 of the top 20attended sporting events in the U.S, and has 75

million fans who purchase over $2 billion inannual licensed product sales. These fans areconsidered the most brand-loyal in all of sports,and as a result, Fortune 500 companies sponsorNASCAR more than any other sport’ – I thinkthis means IT’S BIG.

When I opened up the package containingthe cars, my missus said, “But they’re the same”and under dim lighting conditions, I couldagree. The body shape is very similar, they areboth predominantly red/black and have hugeracing numbers painted on the roof, 99 on theFord, 29 on the Monte-Carlo. There is a lot ofdetail on the boxes too, with colour pics of thedrivers, the GM holographic badge letting youknow this is an official licensed product joins theNASCAR hologrammed oval on both boxes justto let you know NASCAR was formed in 1948,not forgetting all the other licensing agreementsmade with team owners/sponsors/drivers/manufacturers etc. ➳

NASCARS 62190 2006 ChevroletNASCARS 62190 2006 ChevroletNASCARS 62190 2006 ChevroletNASCARS 62190 2006 ChevroletNASCARS 62190 2006 ChevroletMonteCarlo ‘GoodwrenchMonteCarlo ‘GoodwrenchMonteCarlo ‘GoodwrenchMonteCarlo ‘GoodwrenchMonteCarlo ‘Goodwrench’ (Kevin’ (Kevin’ (Kevin’ (Kevin’ (KevinHarvick) and 62180 Ford FusionHarvick) and 62180 Ford FusionHarvick) and 62180 Ford FusionHarvick) and 62180 Ford FusionHarvick) and 62180 Ford Fusion

2006 ‘2006 ‘2006 ‘2006 ‘2006 ‘Office DepotOffice DepotOffice DepotOffice DepotOffice Depot’ (Carl’ (Carl’ (Carl’ (Carl’ (CarlEdwards)Edwards)Edwards)Edwards)Edwards)

By PBy PBy PBy PBy Patrick Beaneatrick Beaneatrick Beaneatrick Beaneatrick Beane

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The CarsThe CarsThe CarsThe CarsThe CarsTo the cars then, compared to most of the SCXI have bought (mostly F1 and rally cars), theseare huge. Quoted weight for the Chevy is 90g,motor is rated at 19000 rpm (@14v), with 3:1gearing and Goodyear Eagle tyres (one fronttyre on the Ford was an unappealing shade ofgrey, compared to the black of the rest). Thetechnical specs can be found easily at www.scx.esif you have access to the web, I don’t intendquoting all of it here. The Ford is also rated at90 grams weight, with the same motor andgearing. SCX claim this is the most powerfulmotor in their 1:32 inventory (pro turbo plus –my multimeter is busted so I do not know if mySportWorld output approaches 14v). The frontwheels are one axle only on both cars, no stubaxles a là ProSlot/Fly or Ackerman steering, theaxles/wheels/tyres run as true as one couldhope from a mass producer. Both have the ARSsystem of self centring guide blade, with doublelengths of braid making contact with the trackconductor rails.

As I opened the boxes and let clean Norfolkair in, allowing the factory sealed atmosphere tohiss gently out (there’s a lot of sticky tapeholding lids down to bases), I should add that mytrack is, these days, Scalex ‘Sport’, not SCXtrack which I suspect these cars run best on. I nolonger have my old MDF oval which has beendismantled and sold on, so the layout is all radius2 curves, two longish 10 length straights withtiming via the Sportworld system (not connectedto a PC).

Compared to some makes I have found thatSCX cars generally run very well straight fromthe box, with little fettling required beforeenjoying them. One car is consistently 0.5 secsa lap quicker than the other one, and that’s stilltrue with 1000 laps each, I got a best lap of10.121 with the Chevy, the Ford lumberingalong at 10.605, this is down from 11 secondsplus when just out of the box. I would like tothink it was my familiarization with the carsgetting better more than a gentle running in.The Chevy motor just sings along, the Fordmotor I tested seems a little unexcited at having

some voltage thrown at it, you can just sense that(if that’s possible via a wired handset, it’s not a‘seat of your pants’ thing) the Chevy is moreeager and less prone to sliding off on un-bordered corners. Both cars did quieten down asgears/motors bedded in, oiling them made noappreciable difference to noise or performance,Dysoning the track during a break in testing didmake a huge 0.5 sec difference, so did removingtrack dust by sellotaping tyres (for about two lapsonly). Removing the magnets takes about 10seconds per car with no need to remove thebodies and adds perhaps 50% to lap times -entertaining certainly but my concentrationlevels gave up after five laps or so. As a lap timecomparison, a brand new zero mileage HornbyPeugeot 307, albeit with pseudo 4WD, covers alap in 8.5 secs. These SCX’ers however have amid mounted longitudinal motor and contrategearing so perhaps that contrast is not a fair one.The 10 length straights mean that the cars havenot finished accelerating, and another ownermay find it beneficial to extend their layouts togarner the impressive top end promised bySCX.

Back on the 1:1 ovals, these cars do 200 orso laps covering race distances of 300 miles attimes, the leaders being within less than 0.1% ofeach other (that’s not many metres apart afterthat many miles). So 0.5 secs difference wouldbe, let me see, around the 6% difference, that’sa fair few miles behind in real terms. Switchingthe dynamic braking on made about a 0.3 secsper lap difference to both, my ham-fistednesswith manually applying the brake button was alltoo apparent, it seems you have to be able tomove your thumb in AND out at just the righttime (and that’s lap in and lap out!) to make anydifference.

DetailsDetailsDetailsDetailsDetailsThe tampo printing is leap years ahead of SCXcars I have bought in years gone past. They paysuch attention to licensing and logos on themodels, there is no bleed between the red andblack/grey areas on the cars I have. Please bearin mind I am not a rivet counter or ace tuner,

33May 2007

(and rubbish racer would be about right). Somelogos such as the bootlip Office Depot one seemincorrect (according to a googled image search),most seem spot on, and I am sure that someteams move stickers around from one race to thenext, maybe even from practice to race versions,so its difficult to say “That’s WRONG”.

Detail elsewhere extends to drivers withnothing below the waist looking at some dialswhile surrounded by a roll cage, with a seriouslyinflexible mesh to the drivers door windowspace, with access to some levers on his right (noin-car TV cameras though) and a ‘diffuser’behind the rear axle. The ‘air-brake’ flaps,which are meant to decrease speed after a spin,are moulded into the roofpanel and there issome front wishbone/transmission reliefs on theunder pans of both. Apart from the licensingstamping I would suggest the underpan isidentical on both.

I risk being all too critical, and maybe neverbeing asked to review anything else, ever.NASCAR does not really float my boat, so tospeak, but if I accept them as what I presumeAmerican cars in general to be about, then thesetwo examples are accurate in overall size (bigand brash) and handling. After all they do notmake many right turns on the ovals, althoughthere are four road courses listed on theNASCAR website (none of which have anapproximate figure 8 such as I have). The carshave been returned to the NSCC for use asprizes - see page two for details of how to winone.

Thanks go to SCX for allowing me to testsomething a little different to my normalpurchases and to Gareth for sending them along.

■

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I suppose like most chaps of 40 who have asix year old son they find it very good coverto go wandering around the toy shops

remembering what they once played with andregrettably disposed of many years ago. It wasafter one of these trips that I decided Jamesneeded a slot car track and, with a quick scanthrough the Trade-it, a Scalextric Crash ‘n’ Bashset was soon covering our living room floor.After putting up with this for five days thenovelty of this was wearing thin for the wife. Ipresume that’s why she packed it away whilst Iwas at work!

Every couple of months the track would beunpacked and then put away again which didn’tgo down with James too well at all, I then hadthe urge to make something permanent. Withlimited space all I could do was an 8ft by 4ftchipboard base and, reading ‘Racer’ magazine,I saw Roger Gillham’s test track that he hadhung on his garage wall. I e-mailed Roger whosent back track plans and we were off inconstruction mode and to the shops.

I slightly tweeked Roger’s design to give usa tunnel and an extra two feet in track length,this elevated section is supported by a singlepiece of hardboard two inches wider than thetrack to make room for borders, which I cut witha jigsaw. Once this was supported I used stickybrick paper on cereal packets to cover up theholes. Balls of newspaper were sprayed matt

grey and flecked with black to look like rocks.The infield is again newspaper with PVA to holdit all down covered with more sheets over thetop. Next came a coating of Sandtex over thewhole lot which was painted green with yellowand brown splodges added trying to make it lookartistic.

As a first attempt at diorama I was quitepleased at the outcome. It was never intended tobe a race circuit with pits and buildings; I wasafter a sort of Mille Miglia feel to it. I think thisreflects in the type of cars I buy as there aren’tmany F1 cars in the collection, apart from theones I need to race at Gordano ScalextricRacing Club. At the moment James can race forabout 30 minutes before finding something elseto do, sometimes I’m left there for ages before Inotice I’m on my own. There are no intentionsof track extensions due to lack of space so we’llkeep racing and enjoying it as it is. ■

Home THome THome THome THome TrackrackrackrackrackBy Adam Saunders

35May 2007

Back in Feb 2006 Tecnitoys discussed inconfidence the prospect of a Pro range ofcars with me and shared some early

prototype development models and suggestions.I was curious to see just how these wouldtransform into reality and finally we can. Someinformation was forthcoming a few months backwhen I was asked to check the translations of thesales brochure, but I couldn’t really answer all ofthe points until I had a car in my hands.

Tecnitoys have launched their new range ofPRO cars with two models and an entire rangeof spares and replacement hop up parts to suitthe serious racer or slot rally enthusiast. ClearlyI fall into the later, but not the former so I havepassed the Audi R8 SCX PRO car onto ScottBrownlee and other racers at Liphook, Wokingand Farnham for their thoughts, look out overthe next month or so for their thoughts.

Retailing at approximately £35 SCX havepitched their product under the cost of theNinco Pro-Race/Rally kits, over the cost of astandard SCX car and just over the cost of aPro-Shock Ninco. I have deliberately excludedthe competitive Spirit Peugeot 205 and to alesser degree the Renault 5, simply because atthe club I race at and in rally events these fallinto a modern or Group A/B class rather thanWRC.

So what do we get for our £35? A newglossy presentation box (similar to the Vintagerange), one chassis, one body, spare guide flag,alternative gear crown, spare race spec braid,spare chassis screws, allen key and a ‘Drivingand Maintenance Guide’ booklet. ➳

Citroen Xsara SCX PRO RCitroen Xsara SCX PRO RCitroen Xsara SCX PRO RCitroen Xsara SCX PRO RCitroen Xsara SCX PRO Refefefefef5025050250502505025050250

By Gareth JeBy Gareth JeBy Gareth JeBy Gareth JeBy Gareth Jexxxxx

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Dealing with each component in turn;Chassis; This is a single section plasticconstruction component with vertical ribs forlateral strength running front to rear. The guideflag is attached to the chassis via a sprung droparm guide assembly, aiding variations in tracklevels and useful when driving on snow or mud(flour/cocoa powder). The spring is not tooaggressive in box stock form, but this can beincreased or reduced if you require; personallyI think too much sprung guide merely lifts thefront of the car under acceleration, so SCX havethis about right. The amount of travel on thedrop arm can be controlled via a screw set abovethe guide flag. Turn down to reduce: turn up toget the max travel of approx 35mm. Thishowever does give a minor problem. If you leavethe screw in place (rather then remove it) theguide flag catches on the screw when it returnsto its top position thus removing the action ofthe drop arm – I found this very annoyingduring use and decided to pull the screw to themaximum upright position to ensure nocatching - a small bit of tape over the screw headwould also work.

Motor; This is a brand new motor with newinternal design, windings and output. 4x4 directdrive with a stated rpm of 22’500 @14V. Intesting, the motor certainly has the power withsuper swift acceleration, good top speed (in factI couldn’t get to top speed on our club track) andgentle braking. I only gave the motor a gentlerun in and did not perform extensive running inunder water or lengthy running at lower volts.I suspect this would greatly benefit the runningof this motor. Straight from the box it is prettystart/stop requiring a hefty dose of power tomove off but, as I said, this will probably softenout with use and running in. Unlike the SCXAudi Pro you can only use the SCX Motor ProDouble Rally in this car. The Audi has anadaptor to change the motor to Mabuchi typemotors.

Running Gear; The model comes with threealuminium gears as standard, (pink - 24 teeth,green 27 and blue 26). Unusually, straight fromthe box the car is set up with different crownsfront and rear. 27/9 at the rear and 24/9 at thefront. At first I thought this was mad, but as

37May 2007

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SCX state in the manual this is deliberate. Theystate that the front wheel spinning faster than therear aids acceleration out of the corners andgives gentler braking. I have to say I think theyare right, but try it for yourself. Pinions areavailable as spares in different teeth sizes of 9, 10and 11. Standard front and rear on the car is 9.

Wheels, Axles, Bearings; All this power andgearing is nothing without some decent roundbits and SCX have addressed this. The axles arecalibrated high quality solid steel, mine werestraight (which makes a change!). The axles areheld in place with spherical bearings set intoadjustable brackets allowing you to set the rideheight front and rear via small grub screws ontop of the bracket.

Wheels are aluminium with one grub screwto attach to the axle, the spoke wheel insertssimply snap into place. Front and rear are 16mmdiameter with a 9mm width. Again my examplehad round wheels! Tyres are grooved rubber,9mm x 17.5mm on the front and 9mm x18.5mm on the rear. BF Goodrich printed onthe sidewalls. Grip levels on Ninco track wasgood, giving a decent level of grip, but not toomuch to stop power slides and movement. To behonest the wheels/tyres look too small on themodel and really should be bigger to fill thearches more.

Body; At first glance you could be forgiven forthinking this is identical to the existing SCXXsara, but it’s not. The body with this kit isbased on the Sordo/Marti entry in the 2006Rally of Argentina. It is in fact brand new withtotally different dimensions, air intakes, rearwing, etc, etc. The livery is spot on with alldetails faithfully reproduced. All this said is fine,but this is a PRO spec body and very differentto the standard SCX cars. It’s lightweight, reallylight! The body and interior weighs in at just24.5 grammes. To meet Spanish slot rallyregulations this is not a Lexan crisp packet, butonly just. The material used is very thin clearplastic, tampo printed on the exterior. It flexesbut is still strong enough for the inevitable rough

and tumble of competitive use (well in my handsanyway!). For all the light weight, none of thedetail is missing (with the exception of aerials).

Unlike normal SCX cars, this model doesnot come with lights or the dreaded magnet!

So what’s it like to drive? Well I love SCXcars, or more specifically RX motored cars, butI’m the first to admit that they are not the fastest,and head to head on any circuit with a decentstraight you’re likely to be overtaken half waydown, only to catch up on the twisty bits. Butthis new model changes all that. In the WRCclass at Farnham, top dog is generally the NincoMitsubishi or Subaru, not any more. After I hadremoved the offending screw catching the droparm the car performs very well. Very aggressivestyle is required at the moment, but hopefullythis will reduce when the motor is run in. Aftera little practice and running I could easily keepup with the Nincos and most of the time pullaway into the distance. It’s noisy, but again timewill smooth out this.

To sum up, love it! There is something forevery slot enthusiast and racer. It’s a greatlooking model/livery with a new body shape,good racer out of the box, plenty to tinker withfor those that like that sort of thing and a fullrange of spares for the crashes and breaks(including chassis!). And not too expensive to putpeople off having a go. Last but not least, theguide book that comes with the car is very wellwritten and not only gives technical details butsome useful tips on preparation and drivingstyles etc.

The box lid states ‘Only for RallyCompetition’, but I think it’s broader than that.Club use certainly, but home users will enjoy thiscar without having to delve too deeply into theblack art of slot car preparation and aftermarket parts. In my opinion SCX are to becommended for releasing a mainstream productthat doesn’t have a magnet! Ban them all I say!

Thanks to Tecnitoys for supplying thereview sample, for more detailed informationand specifications take a look at their web site fora downloadable PDF document:h t t p : / / w w w. s c x . e s / i m g / n o v e t a t s /SALES_FOLDER_PRO.pdf ■